TAMPA, Fla. — For retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joel Rodriguez, life is the best therapy. Wheelchair rugby runs a close second.

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The sport hooked Rodriguez as soon as he saw it.

“I couldn’t even move my arms at that point, and I was in a power chair and I looked at my wife because I had my neck brace and I was like ‘I’m playing this,’” Rodriguez said. “And she looked at me and was like ‘no, you’re not.’”

Fast-forward four years and the intense fast-moving sport is a family affair.

“They bang around the house, but it’s good fun,” said his wife, Liannie Rodriguez.

Five years ago, Rodriguez was in a car accident. He suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury.

The injury forced his retirement from the Army. 

“At that point in my life, I was like, 'You know what? It is what it is,” Rodriguez said. “I have no choice. I just got to become the best person that I can be at that point.”

Confined to a wheelchair, Rodriguez turned to wheelchair rugby as a way to heal. He rarely scores, but his defense has paved the way to victory.

“That’s where playing aggressive comes in,” Rodriguez said. 

He loves every minute of it, and his wife loves watching him.

“I just think he’s incredible, you know,” Liannie said.

And while Rodriguez is thrilled to take his rugby skills to the Warrior Games, his all-time sweetest match-up is right at home with his two-year-old son.